The Calm's Elevation
by ahsokanerd
Summary: The product of war is never a calm. The product of calm is never war. It is a new beginning. This is a story about Ahsoka's life in the tribal world of Shili, after the events of The Wrong Jedi.
1. No Longer A Padawan

The Togruti language, the native language of the Togruta, will not be spoken or used in this fanfic, unlike all of my other stories, in order to keep some of the feel that this had originally.

My own style of writing kicks in at chapter ten, as this is where iSpark's story Ascension will live now, in a new form. **Please read the author's note for more details!**

* * *

The Calm's Elevation

Chapter 1: No Longer A Padawan

* * *

Now Ahsoka was all alone. She was walking the dark streets of Coruscant without even a credit to her name, or a home to call her own. It was even colder now, colder even than it had been the night before when she was running through these streets, trying to evade a task force of clone troopers and police. She had tried to prove her innocence while she was fleeing, but she had failed miserably, and was brought back from the darkest depths of the planet to stand trial for her supposed crimes. She had come close, oh so very close to death, at the hands of those she cared about. Even had an attachment too, if she thought about it. She was saved from that horrific fate, but to her horror, someone she once called a friend had been revealed as the true culprit. _Maybe it would have been better to die,_ she thought to herself. _There is nothing for me to go to anyway._

She shook her head, not wanting to think about it anymore. Ahsoka came to a slow stop in the middle of a dark and lonely-looking alleyway. A small, sheltered, and closed off doorway to a collapsed apartment building seemed to be the only thing close enough to a shelter, in which she could sleep. It was quiet, but Ahsoka still looked down either side of the alley to make sure she would not be disturbed while she tried to get some sleep. Tomorrow she would start her search for a real home.

She sat down slowly, choosing a piece of discarded cloth she had spotted in a nearby trash canister to use as a sort of makeshift bed for the night, though it was anything but comfortable, and forced her to sit with her back laying against the wall. All of a sudden she found herself crying aloud, tears running down her stained orange cheeks as she closed her eyes, and in desperation tried to drift away into sleep.

She had slept on far less comfortable surfaces than this one, but the lack of any kind of food since she had left the Jedi Temple, as well as the cold air that surrounded her and the unyielding sadness that still haunted her mind, was proving too much for her bare. She covered her now bloodshot eyes and cried out her hurt and pain for all the world to hear, and yet knowing that no one was there to hear it. All she wanted was a warm blanket to wrap around herself, a soft pillow to lay her aching head on, and a happy home which she could call her own, but she had none of that now. She was all alone in a world that was as cruel as the fate she had been forced into, and as much as she wished that somehow things would get better, she could not help but believe that even that small hope was a lie.

* * *

Ahsoka sighed sadly the next morning, as she dug through yet another pile of empty and broken crates wooden crates, desperately searching for something she had lost days ago. The air around her seemed cold, while the sound of a faraway siren vibrated in her sensitive montrals. "It isn't for me," she reminded herself. "It isn't for me, it is for someone else. Not me, not me..."

She would rather not ponder how she got back to this place; this place where her nightmares took her, whenever she slept. Maybe her young damaged mind, so used to the constant activity and duty of warfare, had subconsciously decided that it needed a task. That task, apparently, was finding her lost lightsaber.

Ahsoka was surprised to see the accursed warehouse on level 1315 was still standing after all that had transpired. Not that is was in good condition. No, saying that would be a lie. The place was in ruins. The upper level of the building had been badly burned to the point that nothing, but ash and the ruins of a few ruined machines, remained recognizable. The lower level had not fared too well either.

The Republic had cleared away any trace of the many crates that once sat in the large room, which Ahsoka now stood in. They left only the empty boxes and crates that may or may not have held the dreaded nano droids, which were used to bomb the hanger of the Jedi Temple, and lead to her framing at the hands of Barriss Offee. This is the place where her former friend, if she had ever been her friend at all, had perfected the final parts of there plan. This was the place where they had dueled against one another, where Ahsoka had lost, and Commander Wolffe had knocked her out with a powerful stun blast.

A single tear ran down Ahsoka's already stained orange cheek, as she reflected on all that had happened. How many times had she cried? More than she could or cared to recall. She had continued to ask herself where and how it had all gone so terribly wrong for her, though no matter how much she tried, she could not shake the feeling that it was all her fault. If she had not escaped the Republic prison like she had, if she had not ran away when Anakin had promised her he would prove her innocence, would things have turned been any different?

Ahsoka wiped the tear away. She did not want to think about it anymore; she did not want to be hurt in the way she had been, and she certainly did not want to feel as betrayed as she did by those whom she would once have considered her friends. Even her family.

There was nothing Ahsoka could do now to change what had happened, even if that was all she wanted at that moment. She wished she could wipe her memory clean and forget about it, that she could wake up in her quarters back at the temple, and be greeted by her master before one of their early morning training sessions.

She let out a long breath, that was all in the past now, and although Ahsoka knew it would take a long time to achieve it, she would have to eventually let go of the pain that the memories caused her. But that task was her future, when she was capable of accomplishing it. Now she needed, and wanted, to concentrate on the task at hand and locate her lost lightsaber. She carefully disposed of yet another row of shattered and empty nano droid crates through use of the force and her slightly hurting hands, which she was sure she would have to care for in the coming days, after picking up the many splinters and cuts that had come with the on-going search for her lost weapon.

"Blast it!" Ahsoka shouted at the top of her lungs as she drew her foot back and kicked the closest crate away from her in frustration. She had now searched the entire warehouse and not found a trace of her lightsaber, a fact that only added to her ever growing sadness as she dropped to her hands and knees and covered her darkened blue eyes in a failed attempt to stop the tears that were now streaming freely down her soft cheeks.

She cried, turning her hands into fists and bringing them down hard on the cold steel floor, as she let all of her grief finally get the best of her. She began to franticly punch the rusted ground beneath her, ignoring the slight pain it was causing as she sobbed into the dried and hurting skin of her aching hands.

"It's not fair!" she screamed through her tears, trying as hard as she could to contain her emotions. She only to ended up bringing her fists together underneath her chin and sinking her head in between her quivering arms as she let them flow with her quiet sobs and gave up on trying to stop them any longer.

She had never felt as helpless or alone as she was at that moment, as memories of what had happened to her not a rotation ago flooded back and she was forced to remember every painful detail of the events that had transpired the last time she stood in this horrible place. She had been so sure Ventress had betrayed her, so sure that the disgraced apprentice of Count Dooku had been the one behind the attacks on the temple, the murder of Letta Turmond, the one responsible for framing her for crimes she never committed, and all but destroyed her life single handedly. It was strange; she almost wished it had been the former Sith assassin that had been behind it all, and not the last person she would ever had expected to betray her, the Jedi and the Republic.

Ahsoka wondered how Barriss was coping; even now she still couldn't believe that it had been the young Mirialan who had turned against her very beliefs, and way of life, to kill innocent people in order to expose the Jedi for what they had become. That was it though. She had exposed the Jedi, at least Ahsoka thought so. She did not agree with what Barriss did, not by a long shot, but if the former Padawan and Healer had accomplished anything, it was that she had opened Ahsoka's eyes to what the Jedi Council were willing to do in order to insure their own high position. They were willing sacrifice one of their own and play a political game.

They had lost their trust in her, so how could she trust herself or them? Anakin had understood, but the others had not. Plo Koon, the one Jedi Master she would have once trusted with her life and looked up to as a father figure, had lost his faith in her. Even Shaak Ti, a fellow Togruta and someone Ahsoka would have thought to be a close friend, had remained silent when she had been condemned for escaping the Republic prison. Continuing to run as her will to survive, and her natural instincts as a Togruta, were the only things that helped her go on. No true help was given.

Ahsoka opened her eyes slowly, and took in a deep breath as she tried to compose herself, while also slightly struggling to make it back to her feet. Reaching out to pick up another empty crate, she pushed her emotions aside once more, wanting to concentrate only on the search for her lightsaber for the time being. She had to leave all of her thoughts aside for now, until she felt at least a little better and more secure than she was now.

Another long string of minutes passed her by, then another, and still there was no sign of the only item she wanted to have before beginning whatever new journey was ahead of her. Though at the same time, she wondered if there ever would be a time when she would be able to move on from her past fully, and leave all the pain and suffering behind her to strive for a better life.

She frowned, picking up the final crate of the row she was about to finish moving only to feel more and more disappointed and annoyed that he search had yet not given her any hope of finding her lost weapon, though ashes eh moved the crate aside, something else grabbed her attention and made her spin around and look back at the exact spot where the heavy container had last sat.

Placing the crate aside, Ahsoka's montrals picked up the distinct sound of something striking the floor of an unseen level beneath her. To anyone else it would not have even registered, but thanks to her echolocation she was able to trace the sound to a small and almost unseeable crack on the floor she had just exposed after removing the last crate.

She knelt down, moving her right eye to look into the tiny opening and stare down into the darkness of whatever it was that sat beneath what she had thought to be the lowest level of the worn and rusted warehouse, only to find that the old structure did in fact hold a supposedly secret basement level and yet another place for Ahsoka to explore in search of her lost blade.

It took another handful of long, drawn out minutes, as well as a little less careful digging through some more many rows of empty crates, but eventually she was able to find the entrance to the lowest level of the building, coming in the form of a barely visible hatch which blended in with the dark rusted floor and probably would have gone unnoticed to her throughout her search had she not now been looking for it.

Opening the old hatch however wasn't as easy as it maybe had been to find it. Trying to use the half of a broken handle that remained on the old door only sent Ahsoka falling backwards as it snapped off its own hinges and made her lose her balance. Trying to shift the hatch with her aching hands didn't help either and only seemed to agitate the already hurting sores that dotted her hands alongside the many scratches and blisters.

It took a moment to think it over, but eventually Ahsoka was left only with the force to try and lift the heavy piece of steel open, which was proving to be easier said than done as her weakened state and rumbling tummy made it difficult for her to even hold her concentration as well as her grip as she reached into her reserves and tried with everything she had left to finally lift the heavy hatch free from the floor it was all but stuck to.

A long huff of breath and another draw on the power of the force was finally enough to lift the hatch open, but again Ahsoka found herself falling on her backside in a heap as she took in a few long and shaky breaths in an attempt to compose herself quickly, a task that she was once again finding difficult due to lack of a proper meal in at least two days, as well as the fatigue that had come hand in hand with not being able to sleep since the very short nap she had managed while in the Republic's prison and the period of time she had been stunned during the flight back to the Jedi Temple after she had been captured by Wolffe and the Coruscant Guard.

She got back to her feet quickly but a little shakily, before brushing down her now dusty skirt as she tried to regain her wits amid a torrent of strong fumes that were now emanating from the open hatch and making her nostrils flare up to a shade of deep red as she rushed to cover her nose with her right armguard in an attempt to hold the scent off.

"Smells like a fuel dump down there" she spat, taking a few slow steps toward the opening in the floor until she could stare down into the bleak darkness and only wonder what could possibly be awaiting her once she eventually made her way down to investigate.

There was a rather old looking ladder which descended down into the basement's blackness, but Ahsoka didn't feel as though she was willing to test its rusted steps without knowing how far she may fall if one of the creaking bars was to fail. Instead she decided to jump in feet first, using the force to slow her descent as much as possible while she tried to use her montrals simultaneously, to get an idea of when she would come to a stop. Which of course she finally did.

She landed rather gracefully in fact; her right leg outstretched to the side, while her left bent at the knee to help support her weight along with her right hand. She did not stay there for long, as she quickly stood up from her stance, and squinted her eyes in an ever failing effort to try and see into the darkness that surrounded her.

It took a moment, but eventually a thought quickly entered her head, that perhaps there could be a better way to approach this new situation she found herself in. There was no way she would be able to conduct a proper search of the room she now stood in without a source of light, but still, she needed to try something.

Ahsoka then thought up yet another idea, as she slowly backed up a few short steps, and reached out so that her hand was now touching the wall behind her. She then used her index finger to lightly tap the vertical steel structure that was now in front of her, combining each tap with her montral's echolocation to slowly out map the large room. With each sound she made, the echoes bouncing off a number of different objects within the darkness and giving her a slight but significant enough image of what they were and where they were located.

Eventually, her search led her to a large switchboard on the far side of the basement which she slowly felt out only to find a number of broken or missing buttons as well as a lever which didn't seem to want to budge when she attempted to pull it down, though a quick flick of her hand and a draw on the power of the force quickly rectified that problem as the lever finally creaked and struggled down as far is it could go and a low humming sound filled the room as a nearby machine seemed to struggle and whine its way to life after what may well have been a lifetime of extinction down in these blackened depths.

Ahsoka guessed the machine could only be a fusion generator, as the full and angry sound of its activation slowly filled her montrals and the old machine finally managed to come to a working order and, thankfully, activate the few and barely working lights which flickered to life and illuminated the room just enough so that she was able to see anything and everything that lay within it.

Having a quick look around her now brightened surroundings, Ahsoka quickly noticed that the source of the strong fuel smell was in fact the now struggling generator in front of her, which even then continued to leak out small droplets of the greenish blue liquid into an ever growing acidic pool that to bubbled and smoked with each new drop and only served to add to that already strong fumes which again made her dig her nose into her armguard as she made her way around the room with the hope that maybe, just maybe her lightsaber had safely fallen from one of the now many visible holes that dotted the crate covered roof above her.

A quick scan of the wide room proved to be all but fruitless to her as she tried to take in every detail she could, though in all truth, there really wasn't much to see. In the far right corner of the room, the leaking generator clanked in and out of life on more than one occasion, as it tried desperately to stay alive. Directly across from that there was a large but empty water tank, as well as a trail of broken or shattered pipes that she assumed would have once acted to cool the generator itself. This assumption only served to push her on, as she knew that the struggling machine would not last much longer under the increasing ever pressure and heat which it was exhausting in order to keep even the lights on their own alive.

Apart from all of that, the room which Ahsoka now guessed was at one point probably used for extra storage held little else say for the large and still growing pool of glowing greenish liquid that leaked from the generator and formed a bubbling acidic puddle within which only stood a small but shining metal tube that seemed for all the world to be doomed for quick destruction as it was ever so slowly dragged deeper into the smoking melting pot.

Staring at the tube slowly melting away had almost distracted Ahsoka long enough for her to realize what exactly she was seeing, though when it hit her, it felt as though the very air had been knocked completely out of her lungs by a hard and unforgiving punch to the stomach.

"Oh force!" she shouted, quickly lifting both of her hands, and calling on the energy field around her to lift her lightsaber free of the acidic liquid. Her features to turned grave as she floated the remains of the weapon past her head. She set it down on the ground beside her to examine the catastrophic damage, which the leaking fuel had caused to the lower half of what remained of her possession.

She knelt down slowly, using the force once again to lift and remove any lingering goo from her blade's hilt, before she finally reached down to pick it up. Only to find that the acid had caused the steel of her lightsaber to slowly melt away, until only the top half of the tube was visible and meaning that everything that could have given the weapon power had now become nothing more than one with the smoking green pool from whence it came.

Ahsoka sighed sadly, the top half of her blade had fared better than its other section, but without its power source and the proper means to repair it, her lightsaber was now all but worthless to her, "At least my crystal survived," she said to herself with a frown. "That's something, I guess."

Another small breath of regret escaped her lips as Ahsoka stood with the remains of her weapon in hand and carefully placed it tightly underneath the dual straps of her belt, though not without feeling as though she was even more lost than she had been before. She was glad that at least the crystal had survived, but at the same time the possibility of never being able to reignite her bright green blade was only helping to add to her crushing grief, in ways she could not quite explain.

Her lightsaber was really all she had left to her name, it was a symbol of her identity, something that reminded her of who she was and where she came from, but now, now it was nothing more than a broken shadow of its former self, something she sadly felt as though she could identify with, as she sighed once more and deactivated the generator with another flick of her wrist and plunged the basement into darkness once again before she finally leaped with the force back through the open hatch and sealed it of for what might have been the very last time.

Her task was complete, sort of, so Ahsoka felt no need to linger in the warehouse any longer than she had to. The last thing she wanted was to stay in this place for another second, but there was one last thing she felt she needed to do before leaving and that was to make her way back up to the upper level of the accursed building, to the place where she and Barriss, disguised as Ventress, had had their final confrontation.

The smell of burnt steel and melting rubber was the first thing she noticed, followed by the sight of a burned out row of machines which had taken the brunt of the fire which Barriss had started in order to turn the odds in her favor for the dying seconds of the battle. Ahsoka couldn't help but wonder, was Barriss really out to kill her? Or was her intention always to let her fall down into the nano droids storage area to be captured by Wollfe and the Shock Troopers? She would probably never know now, but the questions still opened up a burning hole in her heart that she felt she would never be able to fill unless she got the answers she craved.

Ahsoka could still picture Barriss' face as she was led away by the Jedi Temple's Sentinels. The look of sadness that passed between them, the regret that things had clearly gone much further than her friend had intended. Ahsoka was not angry at Barriss. She did not hate her, and she did not resent her. Rather, she wished she could help her. To understand why she did what she did. She knew why her friend had exposed the Jedi Order's corruption; there was nothing that needed to be answered. Yet what she did not know is why she dragged her into the whole mess.

Ahsoka ducked her head and rubbed her sore arms for warmth, as the air around her once again grew cold. She would never get that chance to ask Barriss and of those questions, not now, not ever. Barriss was probably dead, and she was alone in the galaxy. She needed to find a new path in life that would help her to overcome the pain she was feeling, a path that would start after she left this place, and found a new purpose to cling to.

She then left the warehouse behind, turning back only once more to make a promise to herself that she would never again return to the place that would still haunt her nightmares. What happened within its rust covered walls still lingered within her still hurting thoughts. Ahsoka put that behind her though, attempting to focus only on what lay ahead of her, as she made her way through some of the same routes both herself and Ventress had used the night before in their attempt to flee from their pursuers. She finally arrived back at the same elevator she had used to make her way down to the underworld, and began her ascension back to the surface where the next stage of her plan would begin.

Her lightsaber was lost to her, but Ahsoka still held on to even the smallest flicker of hope that maybe her other weapon may not have ended up in a similar way. She tried her best to remember back to the night before, even as hard as it was, she wanted to figure out and return to the exact place where her shoto had fallen out of her hand after the blast from a clone trooper's rocket launcher had caused her to lose her grip.

There was one more thing she had to search for. Ahsoka quickly decided to return to the nearby industrial area that stood near the prison she had not so long ago escaped from, and begin the search for her lost shoto.

* * *

**AhsokaNerd's Corner:**

The first nine chapters of this story were originally written by the fantastic fanfic author iSparks, under the title Ascension. Sadly, he has decided to cease writing, and leave the fanfiction community. The good news is that he has decided to pass Ascension to to me, and I have renamed it The Calm's Elevation. We talked about his goals for the story, and what he had originally planned, in order to keep some of the original feel. That being said, I will be putting my own stamp on this story, which you will see shortly.

I have a rule that I have strictly followed since this summer. Each chapter must be at least 3,000 words or higher. As a result, most of the chapters that iSparks wrote have been modified, combined, cut, or expanded.

All of iSpark's original characters (known as OCs), will remain owned by him. Of course, this story would not function without his OCs, so I am simply modifying the names of most of them. That being said, some characters will be drastically different than their earlier counterparts. Cayla in particular is going to be quite a different person, despite her significance in the story remaining the same as it was before. I quite like my version of her, Lyana.

Lyana will be introduced in a similar way Cayla was introduced, so you'll know when you have met her. Yet the differences are profound, and I think will add a nice touch to the story. I will not tell you what has changed, so you will have to stick with the story to find out!

The timeline for this story has been lengthened, and several people from the prequels and The Clone Wars have been cut. Rex and Anakin have been cut, along with all the other clones.

The beginning of this chapter was the only part this time that has been modified. Chapter 6 and up get extensive modifications, and chapter 9 will get a rewrite. Chapter 4 (actually chapter 3 since I combined 1 and 2) has a rewrite which was written by iSparks himself.

Despite all of the rewriting, which there will be little of at first, my style of writing only comes in fully in chapter 10. Stay tuned for that please!

In regards to my other stories, here is what is happening now that I am taking over this one. Everything except Alien is being put on hold. After I do the first ten chapters of The Calm's Elevation, I will begin to alternate between my two active stories. Each will receive a new chapter every two weeks, for a total of four new chapters per month.

Now that I have layer out the groundwork for what is going on, let's get started! Everything that iSparks wrote should be posted by the end of the day.

P.S. "Lyana" means "God has answered" (it is Hebrew), although in this story it means "the force has answered."

May the force be with you.

- AhsokaNerd


	2. The Lost Child Searches

The Calm's Elevation

Chapter 2: The Lost Child Searches

* * *

Ahsoka was close now, so close to the prison where she had not so long ago fled from in order to save her life and prove her innocence, after being all but convicted of force choking Letta to death, as well as the bombing of the temple which she had once called her home. Even then, the streets seemed to become less populated, and signs of the upcoming stronghold began show in the form of Republic symbols and grey steel walls.

In such a place there should have been no sign nor evidence of crime and misdeeds, but once again she was about to be surprised as she turned another corner into a slightly darker street and caught a glimpse of a small and crying Pantoran child as she ran toward a pair of shadowy figures at the far end of the shrouded street carrying a pouch which jingled with the sound of what Ahsoka knew to be Republic credit chips.

The sound of the child's sobs and small yelps as she ran towards a group of figures reminded Ahsoka that in a way, her troubles were not nearly as great as they seemed. Seeing the foul lives which many adults lived in this dark place was hard enough to bare, but when it came to a small and fragile child, it stabbed her to the heart. It made her wish she could do something, anything to help, even if she knew she could not. Someday, she hoped she would get the chance to help more children like these.

"Please, please, let my mommy go!" the little girl begged, as she stopped in front of the dark pair and offered them the small pouch she had been carrying. It was obvious now that one of the figures was in fact an older female Pantoran who had a troubled and slightly worried look on her dirt stained blue features. As the woman looked down at the child, her only child, and let a tear run down her flushed cheek, Ahsoka stopped in her tracks and her heart went out to this pair. Maybe she could do something, even if it was minuscule.

Stepping into a thin side alley and backing up against the cold steel wall, she focused her senses and extended her hearing so as to hopefully hear every word that was exchanged. The Pantoran pair and the other figure had thus far failed to say or do anything, other than look down at the little girl, and roughly snatch the small pouch of credits from her tiny hand.

The figure, clearly male and human, laughed loudly, as he counted out the money he had been given. The tone of his glee was as hard as any other exploiting gangster that called these streets home. "Just two hundred, little girl?" he said with a deep chuckle. "Two hundred measly little credits? Is that all you wretches have to offer for your lives?" He then did something which Ahsoka knew must have been painful, for whatever it was that he did, the woman yelped in pain. Her young daughter could be heard openly crying, begging the men to stop.

She had heard enough. Suddenly, a rush of both adrenalin and familiar energy filled and spread throughout Ahsoka's body as she leaped out from behind her cover and ran toward the three figures at the other end of the darkened street. It was too much to take; it was too much to have to look upon a poor child who had to live in this kind of world in the first place, but now to have to witness one run back to whatever home she had in order to retrieve whatever small amount of money her family owned, and pay someone who was evil enough to kidnap someone beyond their strength? That was too much.

Like a daemon in the night, she slilently threw her hands up and force-pushed the man back against the far wall of the street. She heard a loud thunking sound, and the man groaned in pain and surprise. "What the hell was that?" he mumbled to himself, rubbing his back. The girl stared at the man in shock, not understanding anymore than her mother's kidnapper.

The human male's weakened position did not help to calm Ahsoka's anger. She gathered up the force, and pushed the man into a nearby pipe. The man screamed, and she was secretly glad that he had not been knocked out. This was not the sick pleasure of one who enjoyed torture, but rather the satisfaction of justice long delayed. This man probably lived off of small families such as this.

"You disgusting, kriffing, thief!" Ahsoka shouted though her now gritted canine teeth. The Pantoran woman had recovered, and was now holding her girl in a tight embrace, and watched in disbelief as Ahsoka stepped towards the man. Grabbing the man by the hair, she hoisted him up, and held him at eye level. Knowing better than to argue or fight with any creature that could kill him without a thought, the now silent man met her eyes. Her deep blue irises stared into his small brown eyes, and his body began to quake.

"What… what do you want?" the man managed to gasp, the fear evident in his voice. His body was now shaking violently, and he scanned her body quickly, trying to see who see was in the shadows of night. Before Ahsoka had a chance to respond, the man's eyes widened. "You're that girl! Yes, you're that little Jedi girl from the holonet!"

"So you recognize me?" Ahsoka said in a deathly calm voice. Then she lowered her voice, as if to whisper something very important. "Then you must know what I can do."

The man could not have possibly looked more frightened than he did at this moment. "Y-yes," he sputtered, "I'll do anything! Just don't harm me anymore!"

"Well, what do you want?" Ahsoka asked, not turning her head, but clearly speaking to the Pantoran woman and her child. She let the man go, and he fell to his knees. His white hands scraped the ground, and she could see the blood and dirt to mingle on his knuckles and palms.

The Pantoran girl wriggled out of her mother's arms, and came forward, looking curiously at Ahsoka. Her eyes were full of wonder and happiness, but they still contained an inkling fear, of both the man and now her. Turning towards the man she said, "I want you to go away bad man, and leave my mama alone!"

"You hear that?" Ahsoka asked the man. He nodded, not looking up. She crouched down, and leaned close to the face of the man. Placing her mouth near the man's ear she whispered quietly, "Good. Now don't come back, little man, or I swear I will kill you without a moment's hesitation." The stood up, and then kicked him. "Now, go!" she yelled, and the man scurried away clumsily, not once pausing to look back at his assailant.

Ahsoka watched him go, until he was out of sight. Her breathing became more steady, and she forced herself to relax. _It is over,_ she thought. _I can calm down, he's been frightened away. _Suddenly, the realization of what she had done came to her. She had used fear as a weapon! How could she? She could not even go near the dark side, or the temptation of the power it promised could corrupt her! She was about to leave the scene, when she noticed the woman scoop up her child to prepare to leave.

"Wait," Ahsoka said, forcing herself to hold it together for a little while longer. The Pantoran woman stopped, and looked back at her. "Go back to your home, and pack everything you have," she instructed the Pantoran. "That man will be back again, if he is your typical underworld thug, so leave this place as soon as you can. The farther away you can get away from him and others of his type, the better."

The woman gave an exhausted smile, and nodded. Then she abruptly left, the child staring back at her, until they could no longer see each other. Ahsoka had no doubt that the small family would heed to her words, and leave. Nobody ever comes out of a bad situation, without intending to do whatever is necessary to avoid it in the future.

Then she let herself break. Everything was a blur as she fled, thinking about how close she had come to killing that man in anger. A combination of lights and shadows passed Ahsoka by as she quickly moved down the street she had been facing. She did not stop. She then pushed everything out of her mind except one thing. The search for her shoto, which she now clung on to like a lone pillar in the middle of a raging sea on a stormy night. With nothing but instinct driving her on towards her objective, and the undying will to survive taking over everything else, she looked ahead to the light at the end of the long and lonely street.

Time slowed down then. She had exited the long stretch of darkened streets and entered an even darker place. The Republic's most secure prison stood before her, its searchlights scanning the area around the massive stronghold while whole platoons of Clone Troopers marched around the perimeter, as if to remind all who saw them of just how strong a force both they and the Republic as a whole was.

Ahsoka slowed her pace to a walk as she continued on through the large square in front of the prison, sticking to the shadows as much as she could and avoiding any and all clone patrols that looked like the might or were getting to close to her position. She knew they were very much aware of her, but she was not exactly disappointed that they had thus far ignored it. After all that had happened, she didn't want to have to face any of her former comrades after the events of the night before; presuming that most of the clones stationed at the prison probably hated her after their brothers had been killed by Barriss' hand and made to look as if it had in fact been her that did it.

Even if they now knew that it was not true, Ahsoka still felt as though she was partially responsible for the deaths of those clones. She feared that the troops stationed here now may well react badly if she tried to approach any of them, even if she wanted to say she was sorry for all the pain she so believed she had caused them; both with their brothers' deaths, and the long chase they had led them on which also involved an entire squad being knocked out by herself and Ventress in the underworld.

Ahsoka kept her head down the entire distance between the prison and the beginning of the mass industrial area. She then stood before the vast plain of piping that stretched out into the horizon, and saw that the area that was now shrouded in complete darkness looked almost completely different to the rain-swept trails she had run along barely a rotation ago. This change seemed surprisingly unusual to her, as she once again thought back to the previous night, when she was being hunted by searchlights and shot at by Commander Fox's perusing troopers.

She sighed, making her way up and down the many sets of steel stairs before coming to another halt on the central viaduct and trying to figure out exactly which way to go next. The chase had happened so fast that she really couldn't recall anything other than the line of sweat on her brow and the constant feeling of alertness that kept her alive while she dodged blaster fire in the form of stun bolts and the troop transports that shined their searchlights down on her as she ran for her life in any direction seemed best, even though none of them would serve to help her until she was forced into the pipes themselves.

Ahsoka took in her surroundings, looking for any sign of the chaos that had ran riot over the pipeline during the pursuit and yet every time she turned she was greeted by an exact copy of the view she had just taken in before, leaving her even more frustrated as her slipping hopes of finding her shoto began to look more and more unlikely, that is until, with a bit of luck, she noticed a very small area in the far distance which seemed to be lit up a lot more significantly than any other route on the ever stretching plains.

With a nod and a slight lift in her hopes, Ahsoka headed west toward the distant light as more and more memories from the prior night began to come back to her with every step she took along the grated steel walkway. More and more the signs of the chase began to appear as she approached her destination, small burns on the railings where blaster fire had either missed her or been deflected away by her lightsaber was all too evident along the stretch of walkway where the Republic LAAT troop transport had flown alongside her and peppered her position with wave after wave of stun bolts and then.

Ah. Now she remembered.

_That missile._ Ahsoka froze as she reached the end of the long walkway, or at least what was left of it. In front of her an entire section of the grated steel had been all but destroyed, leaving a gaping void in between that was being lit up by a total of six floodlights that now stood in a hexagon around the damaged area and lighting up the entire blast region that had seemingly been mostly cleared, say for the remains of the largest part of the walkway which had become lodged in one of the nearby pipes.

Seeing the whole place lit up did nothing to help her already damaged hopes, as Ahsoka leaped down into the middle of the six lights and once again scanned the area quickly for any sign of where her shoto may or may not have fallen after she had barely escaped the blast and was left only with her lightsaber to fend off the rest of the clones before she was forced into the pipes themselves. The place was huge, but already it seemed as though most of the damage had been all but cleaned up and moved say for the final piece of destroyed walkway that was lodged deep into the adjacent pipe and looked like something that would take longer to move than the smaller pieces of burned steel and sharp shrapnel that she was expecting.

In truth, the sight was a grim one. There was nothing to suggest that her shoto may have somehow slipped away from the grasp of whoever had been responsible for cleaning up the mess which the clones had left behind and that thought made her feel as horrible as the revelation itself was. If it wasn't here, her shoto was most likely on the desk of a Republic official or, she hoped at least, back in the hands of the Jedi. The last things she wanted to think about was the possibility that it may even be in the hands of the decorated Admiral Tarkin, yet another face from her past that she would happily like to forget after he had ruthlessly petitioned to have her put to death for the crimes she never committed.

She never liked him really, even before everything that had happened over the past week. Tarkin had always come across as an arrogant and selfish man even when his life was being saved by a Padawan he had seemed to hate for no apparent reason. She could picture him, feel his hand as he took a hold of her chin and provoked her to defend herself, though she had fought to contain and keep her composure while also trying not to bare her sharp teeth at him as a warning.

Tarkin was fear, he was her fear and she hated him for that, as much as a Jedi could hate, but she wasn't a Jedi anymore, not after what he had helped to do in breaking her spirit as well as her heart. He had fed on every inkling of pain that she had suffered while under his watch and after she had been recaptured, he hated her, even after she had saved his life on more than one occasion and he wanted nothing more than to see her suffer and die for nothing but the false accusations he had thrown at her.

Ahsoka could feel it again, that dark presence in the most hidden recesses of her mind calling to her to embrace her hate and release it on those who had harmed her. It was so tempting, so easy, she could sink into the power of the dark side of the force and feed on its energy to increase her own, then no one would stand in her way, no one would dare challenger her, she would rule over her enemies and only save those that she cared about. She was so close, so close to giving in to the call, but she could not. She would not.

She shook her head, refusing to let her feelings get the best of her as she pushed them away from her thoughts and instead replaced them with the yearning to do what she had come here to do in the first place and find her shoto before she collapsed with the exhaustion of her long and arduous journey from the deepest depths of the underworld, to the lonely pipe plains that she now stood in the middle of.

_Sure could do with R2's help about now,_ Ahsoka thought with a small, but happy, smile. She thought about how the little astromech had always seemed to find anything and everything when he was asked to. That little bit of luck and perseverance would certainly be welcome in the current situation she found herself in as she continued to scour the area, only to be halted once again, as the piercing sound of cracking thunder harshly filled her montrals from above and forced her to instinctively hold her sensitive horns in an effort to stave off the small amount of pain that had come with the horrible sound.

Ahsoka desperately scanned the area without paying much attention in one last ditch attempt to spot any small sign of shoto as the raindrops once again began to fall from the opening heavens above, and the faraway flash of lightning followed another course of thunder as the coming storm intensified and roared its way to life at the worst possible time.

"No, no, no, no!" she cried, breathing in heavily. She tried to come up with some sort of a plan to escape the rain, without ending up in a situation where she would be soaking wet. Without a place to dry off, she could catch cold a freeze to death. This was not a pleasant thought, and overwhelmed her. Many things seemed to overwhelm her now.

Then the rain became heavier, until the entire area around Ahsoka was quickly being coated in a layer of water. The only dry spot she could locate was under a twisted collection of nearly-destroyed steel that looked like it had once been a walkway. A loud blast of lightning sounded above, as she leaped forward, on instinct again more than anything. She landed with a crash underneath the fallen steel walkway. It was barely keeping the rain out, but it was still the best hope she had of staying at least a little dry.

An intense darkness then smothered the area as the flood lights gave out after a nearby lightning strike, leaving Ahsoka to hug her knees close to her body shaking chest. She tried with all her heart once again to find a reason as to why she was here. It hurt so much, more than she liked to admit, but now that she found herself sitting in the cold, lonely darkness underneath a raging storm, she finally felt her heart painfully and cruelly break. Then she closed her stinging eyes, and through both exhaustion and the aching feeling she still held in her chest, drifted off into a dark and lonely sleep.

* * *

**AhsokaNerd's Corner**

This chapter has been heavily modified from the original (this was chapter 3 of Ascension). The scene with the Pantoran mother and child was entirely rewritten, and every single section at least had some modifications to it.

Yes, I do not do disclaimers like iSparks did. I tend to think that this entire site is one big fat disclaimer (having a story at a site called fanfiction makes it quite clear what it is). But in case you are wondering, my OCs, which come in later, are owned by me. This story is owned by me too, not the mention that it is in part owned by iSparks, as he created the story at first. Sadly, none of the Star Wars stuff is mine, although I hope to write a canon story in the universe one day about Ahsoka, given the chance by Disney and Del Ray.

There, that's my disclaimer, which I will not post again.

Some of you have asked how my writing style is different from iSparks' style. Simply put, I use dialogue to explain most things, and the narrator is only used when absolutely necessary. He used the narrator quite frequently, sometimes far more than the dialogue was used (this is pretty evident in the first few chapters of Ascension). I also use longer timelines.

Please leave a review of this chapter, and if you are coming over from iSparks' Acension, please tell me what you did or did not like about the modifications. Thanks everyone!

- AhsokaNerd


	3. The Brighter Dawn

Sorry about the delay in getting this out. It required more of a rewrite than I expected, so I had to create a new storyline for this chapter that still fit the rest of the story. I hope the wait was worth it. I am also taking a Christmas break from school and writing after I finish the next chapter, in order to focus on my family, but I'll be back! Also, please look out for my upcoming Christmas special (a one-shot), and my Alien Christmas special (the promised chapter of Alien with Ahsoka and Ashla spending Christmas with their "foster family"). Thanks!

* * *

The Calm's Elevation

Chapter 3: The Brighter Dawn

* * *

Ahsoka blinked twice to try and adjust her stinging blue eyes to the sudden intrusion of morning sunlight, as she was roused from the slumber she had forced upon herself the night before. She shivered. The storm had past, but the world around her had not regained any kind of beauty or perspective that she may have futilely hoped for. Instead it had left behind a blistering cold, a damp surface, and a bleak looking sky.

A small broken sigh escaped Ahsoka's lips, as she rubbed her shaky arms. Her back was sore, as were her legs. The effects of sleeping on the cold hard ground underneath a ruined walkway, only helped to pile onto her already long list of sorrows and discomforts. Thankfully, she somehow found the strength to make it back to her feet.

At first, Ahsoka thought about searching for her shoto one last time, but she quickly pushed it out of her mind. The area had been cleared to the point that she was sure her secondary weapon now lay in the hands of the Republic. It could have been brought back to the Jedi Temple or, force forbid, was now sitting on the desk of Admiral Tarkin.

The mere thought of Tarkin made Ahsoka frown; she had never before been treated as unfairly or begrudgingly, as she had under his authority. She might have said she hated him, if not for her being Jedi, though then again, she no longer had to stand by that way of life, even if she knew she wanted to.

Ahsoka sighed again as she stepped out from underneath the fallen walkway. She looked back towards the prison, and remembered all the horrible things that had happened near here. She did not want to remain here any longer. She decided to return to the senate district, but only if she could avoid the massive building along the way.

Eventually she found a way back to the main city. Going this way meant that she would have to jump across several rows of piping, as well as a twenty-foot tall fence that separated the vast plain from the first of a few abandoned streets.

It took a little more effort than she had anticipated, but Ahsoka was glad to put the prison and the industrial areas behind her. She finally felt her body warm from the activity, and she began to make her way towards the large central market that sat about a mile away from her current location.

The market was a wide open square where merchants from both on and off world would gather to trade their goods to the many differing classes of the capital planet. Ahsoka walked from stall to stall as she looked for something that would act as a quick breakfast. It was still relatively early, about an hour past dawn if her guess was correct, and many of the usual stalls had yet to be set up properly. Not that that was a bad thing, as it allowed her to move freely through the square as she searched for some food and water.

It was then, to her great relief, that Ahsoka spotted a small fruit stall near the centre of the square which had already began serving a few early birds. It looked like a quick, yet healthy, way to begin her long day of doing... whatever came next.

Ahsoka paused a few yards away and dug her hand into the small pouch that hung from her belt. "Twelve credits," she whispered with a frown, as she finished counting the small metal chips. She had enough left for her breakfast, but beyond that, she worried about just how far she would be able to go before having to find a source of income - something that would be difficult for a warrior, without any other abilities, to do. Sleeping on the cold artificial floor of Coruscant would not be a pleasant thing to repeat.

It was funny, really. Ahsoka's teaching line had a habit of training younglings and padawans who would one day leave the Jed Order. Three Jedi had left since the teaching line began with Master Yoda. Lorian Nod, Count Dooku, and now herself. Dooku and Ahsoka were the only pupils from the line that were members of the lost twenty - actually, the lost twenty-one - as they had left peacefully and voluntarily, because they thought something was fundamentally wrong with the Order.

All three of them faced the same problem as Ahsoka did now, but Lorian in particular had suffered. He had become a space pirate, as a way to survive. _I hope I do not go down that path,_ Ahsoka thought.

"Can I help you, little one?" the voice of the vender broke Ahsoka out of her daze. She moved her gaze away from the sky, and she made eye contact with the vender. A short human male with a stout body smiled at her, and she returned it.

"I'm just hungry," Ahsoka answered. It took her only a few moments to look ravenously at the many fruits, vegetables, and meats before one particular item that did not cost much caught her eye. "Um, how much for the salami?" she asked somewhat hopefully, as she lifted her questioning gaze back to the man.

"Are you alright darling? You look like you've spend the night in the gutter", the man observed with a tone of concern. He had noticed her hungry look, which nobody, especially a food seller, would miss. His observation was regrettably not far from the truth.

Ahsoka frowned, "I-I'm fine, it was a bit of a rough night," she spoke in the strongest voice she could muster, but a small sigh managed to escape from her lungs.

The man seemed to take a moment to think before speaking again, as he looked her small frame over. "Take one, on the house," he finally said, with a small but sad smile as he pointed toward one of the long strips of meat. "I won't stand by and let a pretty little thing like you go hungry in times like these, and besides, I've been very busy the past few days, so I don't really need your money. Now, save your credits, and get away from this place," he added with another small smile.

Ahsoka gave the vender a somewhat startled look. "No, I couldn't," she tried to object.

"I won't hear it," he interrupted, and he took a small plastic bag. He filled it with two of the salami sticks she had seen, and handed the bag over to her. "Take them," he added, and she reluctantly accepted.

"Thank you, but, I wouldn't feel right just taking these," Ahsoka replied, looking at the salami before she looked back at the smiling man. She opened her hand to reveal the few credits she had.

"Don't mention it darling, like I said, someone as young and well-mannered as you shouldn't have to scrape by like most of the scum around here, now eat up, keep your credits and try and get yourself off this planet" he said, smiling throughout before he closed her hand again with his own.

Ahsoka almost had tears in her eyes. "Thank you, thank you so much," she managed to say though a small smile of her own as she placed the credits back in her pouch.

The vender nodded. "Like I said, don't mention it," he said with a smile. "Now you run along little missy, enjoy your breakfast."

She smiled again, giving the man a small bow before she turned and walked toward the far side of the market. She sat down quietly in a sitting area, setting the bag beside her. and taking out one of the salami sticks as she let out a small sigh and smiled to herself.

It had not struck Ahsoka until then, but the one small act of kindness that the vender had shown her was enough to lift her spirits higher than they had been for a few days. Though they certainly could reach much higher, after all that had happened. Way higher.

The world, the galaxy even, had seemed so remorseless and dark the night before. Ahsoka had genuinely believed that the notions of good and happiness may have just been illusions cast by those who did not want to believe in the reality. That was now an afterthought.

Ahsoka gratefully sank her canine like teeth into the spiced meat, savoring the taste. She once again let a wide smile cross her lips. No matter how dark the world may have seemed, it did not matter to her anymore. There was good in the darkness, and she only needed to find it. The vender had thought her that much. It came as a bright and genuine relief to her, and all of a sudden, the world seemed a little bit brighter.

Now all Ahsoka needed to think about was where her future lay. She was sure she needed to leave Coruscant, as there was nothing for her on the capital planet anymore. Nothing, except reminders of a life she now wanted to forget. What place could she call home, other than the Jedi Temple?

"Shili." Ahsoka whispered her home planet's name as she finished her breakfast. It had been just over thirteen years since she had been taken away from her home by Master Plo Koon, and she had never really thought about the place. There really was no need to. Sure, her infant home and family lived there, but she had become a Jedi, and forgotten all about them. It had been so long that even if she did try to remember her family, she could not remember a single thing. Not a face, name, or even a whisper. She could not even remember the smell of the place she had been taken from.

Yet, it was a planet that she could go to. Seizing the moment of inspiration, Ahsoka quickly tied the small plastic bag to her belt and stood up from her seat as a plan formed in her head. Twelve credits probably would not be enough to barter passage to Shili, but there was another way.

Ahsoka made her way back to towards the centre of the market, giving another small smile to the vender that had helped her, before she quickly started to make her way north towards the GAR shipyards. Her new Eta-2 _Actis_-class light interceptor, which she had only used a few times, was most likely still in the hangers. As it was hers, she would have no problem stealing it. Really it was more like taking it back, as it was hers. At least that is what she told herself.

Maybe it was not the best of plans, but then again, she never really thought her moves out. A trait she had shared with her master, though that was something she was not keen on thinking about.

Ahsoka eventually found herself running as fast as her legs would carry her through the ever crowding streets as she continued towards the shipyards, with the hope that both the Resolute and in it her fighter were still docked there. That hope drove her on, before she came to a sudden and forced stop in a place she had not anticipated she would cross again.

She turned, the Jedi Temple towering above her as she once again felt her heart become unbearably heavy. The ancient building was a hive of activity today. Masters, Knights, padawans, droids and others streamed in and out of the temple as the planet slowly awoke to another new day. She took a moment to look up towards the stairs she had walked down the evening prior and she couldn't help but wonder how her master was doing.

Her leaving hurt him, almost as much as it hurt her. Ahsoka was sure of that, and deep down she hoped that he would forget about it. That he would forget about her and become the Jedi Master he had always wanted to be. It hurt even now. She had always dreamed of becoming a Jedi Knight, and her training had been difficult at times. But that had only served to spur her on to become a better Padawan and make her master proud. Now, it was clear to her that her efforts had been for nothing.

Ever since her visit to Raxus with Padmé, with whom Ahsoka suspected Anakin was in a relationship with, she had begun to question what she had been taught. Before that mission she had believed everything she had been told by her elders, and when she disobeyed, she had only done it due to childish rebellion. Afterwords, she had began to examine everything that she had been told. Why was she fighting in this war? Wars it right? Who had started it, and did it really matter who had?

By the time Ahsoka went on her unexpectedly-final mission with Anakin, she had come to the conclusion that the only reason she was fighting the Separatists was because of their corrupt military leader, Count Dooku, and the cowardly Trade Federation that backed him. Dooku was clearly evil, so at some level the Separatists were not as good as the Republic. The painful part is that she saw how the "enemy" was right. The Republic was corrupt, and they wanted to get away from that corruption.

Yet it was still better to fight for the Republic, right? That is what Ahsoka thought before the Jedi Council had stabbed her in the back; before Barriss had revealed what they were capable of doing. Looking back, she wondered what side she would have fought for, if she knew what she did now. It was a difficult question, one which she did not have an answer for.

Then there was the Jedi Code. Anakin had always taught Ahsoka that the code could be flexible when it needed to be, though she never really understood what he meant by that. Well, not until she herself realized just how far he had gone. Not until she realized how much she cared about her friends. Once she realized those things, she realized that most of the Jedi Code was not something worth keeping.

"Goodbye, master," Ahsoka whispered softly as a single tear ran down her cheek. She once again looked up at the ancient building, hoping yet not hoping to see him one more time. He was nowhere to be found, so she said a more personal farewell, one she wished she would never have had to use this soon. "Goodbye, Anakin."

Wiping the tear away, Ahsoka once again began to walk northwards, leaving her heavy heart behind as she looked to finally move on from her former life, even if she knew it wouldn't be easy.

As she walked, Ahsoka went over the plan once more in her head. It would not be a simple case of walking into the shipyards, boarding the_Bantam_, Anakin's new _Venator_-class Star Destroyer, and just taking off in her starfighter after a quick preparation. The security in and around the dock area's were tighter than anywhere else on the planet. Even the senate building was not guarded as much as the many ships and cruisers that were constantly moving to and from the massive docks.

Ahsoka could only hope that the group of men she would run into were not from the 501st, and had not paid attention to her capture and trial. Leaping over a fence when she knew that nobody was looking, she made her way to the hanger for the 501st. She also reached in her pockets and pulled out her lightsaber, reattaching it to her belt. Few of the clones could tell the difference between a broken lightsaber and a functioning one.

Ahsoka was almost at the hanger where the _Bantam_ and her starfighter were stored when a group of clones from the 212th came around a corner. One of the orange-armored troopers broke away from the group and headed her direction. She forced herself to continue moving, as if she was here officially, and ignored the clone trooper who was following her. Before the clone had caught up with her, she was at the massive open hanger for the 501st. To her relief, her starfighter was not inside the _Bantam_. Instead, it was next to her master's starfighter, and a group of ARC-170s that were getting prepped by their pilots for the next mission.

The trooper was next to her now, and he briefly glanced at her lightsaber which was still attached to her belt, which Ahsoka had reattached before entering the building, despite it being broken. "I need to see identification, sir," he said, "for security purposes. There was an incident recently with some Jedi, so we need to make sure that you are authorized." Clearly he had heard of the incident, but had not read the full report.

Ahsoka noticed this, and she also picked up on something else. _Did he say 'Sir'? He must be from the latest batch of green troopers,_ she thought. Knowing that the younger troopers were more easily mind-tricked, she discreetly waved her hand and said, "You don't need to see my identification." Hopefully the mind trick would work on the young clone, otherwise she would have nothing to prove that she was authorized to be in the hanger.

"I don't need to see your identification," the trooper said, after only a short moment's hesitation, much to Ahsoka's relief. He was about to say something else, when the attack alarms flared. The clone trooper activated the com link in his helmet. "The Separatists have invaded the capital, sir? Grievous? I understand, sir." She was surprised herself, but secretly pleased. It was the perfect diversion that she needed to leave in her starfighter without being stopped.

After the trooper was finished, he glanced at Ahsoka, and gave a quick salute. "Good luck up there, sir," he said, and then he left abruptly, heading back in the direction of Obi-Wan's hanger.

Ahsoka entered the familiar hanger, which was now full of clones, all rushing towards their respective battle stations or ships. Many were boarding the _Bantam_, and a few squads of pilots were taking off in their ARC-170s. She was able to run to her starfighter and get in, without anyone noticing or at least thinking anything of it.

Taping quickly on the controls, Ahsoka turned on her new starfighter. The engines roared to life, and R7 turned on, giving her a few playful chirps in greeting. "It's good to see you again too, little buddy," she laughed. "Ready to go?" R7 beeped his agreement. Taking hold of the two joysticks at the end of the armrests, she guided her starfighter off of the ground, and took off into the sky.

When nobody was paying attention, Ahsoka broke away from the direction where the battle was, which was not far away based of the location of the explosions she was seeing, and headed towards the area where the Jedi kept their hyperspace rings. R7 beeped in protest, and instead that they head in the direction of the battle.

"I know R7," Ahsoka reassured the astromech. "We aren't going to fight with the others today, or anything soon. I'm headed to Shili, so please activate my hyperspace ring." R7 chirped dutifully, and remotely prepped the hyperspace ring.

Once her starfighter broke through the atmosphere, Ahsoka was able to see the battle for the first time. Clearly the Separatists Alliance and General Grievous had been preparing for the attack for a long time. The best ships in both fleets were fighting a deadly battle over the Coruscant skies, and she could also just make out signs of a ground battle near the Senate, where Chancellor Palpatine's office was. No doubt Anakin was down there fighting with Obi-Wan by his side against the droids. If nothing had happened to her recently, she would probably be down there or in the space battle right now herself.

Ahsoka looked away, and steered towards her nearby hyperspace ring. Within a couple of seconds, she was attached. Entering in the fight path to Shili, she prepped her ship, and placed her broken lightsaber in a compartment. Everything was in order. "Make the jump to hyperspace," she ordered.

The stars blurred blue, and she was off.

* * *

**AhsokaNerd's Corner**

Wow, that last part was a huge rewrite, and the start of the chapter had a ton of small modifications here and there. Togruta only eat meat, so the peach was turned into salami. I have no idea if it even exists in the Star Wars universe, but most likely it does. I was eating some myself while writing this chapter, so it fit. Rex was taken out, and two chapters were combined as a result. This was also a nice way of setting up my timeline for this story (this was a combination of the final few chapters of Clone Wars, post-season 5 of The Clone Wars, and a couple hours before the start of Revenge of the Sith). My version is more drawn-out than the original version, which was written in a way that would make the entire story end before Revenge of the Sith began. Obviously that is not happening in my version.

I hope you guys like the changes, even if I did make a lot of them.

An interesting fact: Ahsoka states after an internal conflict of hers in one of the canon Clone Wars novels that she will never call her master by his first name, until they are equals. Apparently in The Jedi Who Knew Too Much and The Wrong Jedi, Ahsoka felt like they were now at this point. Those great lines in the show held more weight than many fans realized, so I added a bit more detail to the "Goodbye, Anakin" scene in this chapter.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, and may the force be with you.

- AhsokaNerd


End file.
